


counting stars

by duelistkingdom



Series: nanonwrimo 2020: 100k challenge [8]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:49:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27637786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duelistkingdom/pseuds/duelistkingdom
Summary: atem misses the stars. yugi finds a way to bring them to him.
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi | Atem, Puzzleshipping - Relationship
Series: nanonwrimo 2020: 100k challenge [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995451
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	counting stars

Atem often spoke of the stars in Egypt since getting his memories back. He spoke of them rather wistfully since the night sky in Domino City was so polluted with light that was impossible to see any stars. The way Atem described the stars sounded impossible to Yugi. He would mention seeing the entire galaxy spilled across the sky, how the stars were enough to see by in the night and Yugi realized he had to take Atem to see the stars again. So he’d gone down to the internet cafe with the intention of finding a way to show Atem the stars again that wasn’t just taking him to a planetarium. While he was certain Atem would’ve liked it... he wanted it to be real. He wanted to see what Atem described with his own eyes.

To his great surprise, he found a place in Japan that had little light pollution and was the best place to see stars. Unfortunately, it would mean going camping. Yugi was not particular found of camping but when it came to Atem... he was more than willing to try. So he looked up everything he’d need for camping and asked his grandfather to loan him the camping tent he’d never used. His grandfather seemed aware of why Yugi was asking for it but said nothing. Now all he had to do was ask Atem to come with him. Yugi knew that Atem would go most places as long as it was him who asked. Still, Yugi couldn’t help but be nervous as he asked Atem to go camping with him. “Aibou, you hate camping.”

Of course Atem would remember that. It seemed like Atem remembered every little detail about Yugi right when it was most inconvenient for Yugi. This made making surprises work out harder because Atem just knew Yugi so well. “Yeah, well, I thought maybe I haven’t given it a fair shake,” Yugi replied, his cheeks turning pink. “Besides, last time you went with Jonouchi, you had talked about how much you liked it.”

Atem’s eyes narrowed slightly at Yugi and Yugi knew that look well by now. It was the same look he got whenever he was trying to figure out what someone was thinking in a duel. So Yugi held his ground, refusing to give away anything. In his experience, Atem could read him if and only if Yugi did not give him anything else to look for. It meant that now this was simply a game and Yugi almost always had a slight edge over Atem. He just needed to not back down when Atem challenged him. “So this is simply because I said I liked camping?”

Yugi nodded. “I figured... if you liked it, then you could show me what you liked so much about it,” Yugi said as he moved in closer, knowing how to best distract Atem during these little challenges. He wanted to keep everything a surprise and while deceiving Atem wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do... he knew it’d be the only way he could keep his surprise a secret from Atem. “Plus... we can get some alone time... without anyone else bothering us.”

Instantly, Atem was thrown off as Yugi pressed a soft kiss to his neck. His breath hitched and Yugi knew he’d won. “Oh,” Atem stumbled out as he reached to place his hands on Yugi’s hips. “If that’s the case, aibou,” he said, barely keeping himself together, “I mean... that’s to say... if that’s what you want... I’m more than happy to go camping with you.”

So one week later, they were packing up a rented truck with sleeping bags, tents, and some clothes to spend the night under the stars. Not that Atem knew that was what Yugi’s ultimate plan was. Yugi was nervous the whole drive over, constantly playing out what could happen in his head. He had a tendency to overthink and Anzu had long since noted that he should probably try to fix that. However, Yugi couldn’t help himself. He wondered if Atem would like the surprise. He wondered if Atem would hate it. He wondered if Atem would even care at all that Yugi went out of his way to set this up.

Either way, making it out to the camp site was nerve city for Yugi. “So, this is where we’re camping,” Yugi said as they arrived in a clearing that was sure to have a grandiose view of the night sky. As of right now, however? It was rather plain looking of an area.

“This is where you want to camp, aibou,” Atem said with a slight frown. “I think Duelist Kingdom had better accommodations than this place.”

“Don’t try to romanticize Duelist Kingdom,” Yugi said with a roll of his eyes as he pulled the tent out of the truck, well aware he wouldn’t know the first thing about putting this together. Thankfully, Atem took the tent from him with the intention of setting it up himself. “You know Pegasus did not provide amazing camping conditions.”

“The only thing I romanticize about Duelist Kingdom is that it was the first time I got to talk to you,” Atem said as he started to pitch the tent, causing Yugi to blush. “Really, that’s probably the best thing to come out of Duelist Kingdom.”

Yugi blushed lightly as Atem finished pitching up the tent. Of course Yugi remembered that. He’d caught glimpses of his other self before the duel with Pegasus but they’d never really gotten the chance to talk until that duel. He knew that he cared about Atem from the very moment he laid eyes on Atem. He even learned to trust Atem fairly quickly too. “I suppose you’re right about that,” Yugi said, noting the sun was starting to set. “Hey, you wanna watch the sunset with me?”

Atem grinned as he reached out for Yugi’s hand. “Thought you’d never ask, aibou.”

The two of them had already found the best spot to watch the sun set and unfortunately for Yugi, it was a bit of a hike away from where they are now. Still, Atem seemed rather happy hiking. Yugi never understood why Atem liked hiking, really. It was exhausting. The only rewarding part of the hike was seeing the smile on Atem’s face and how at ease he was in nature. Of course Atem was at ease in nature, Yugi thought to himself. He wondered more about Atem’s time in ancient Egypt but Atem never seemed eager to talk about it. He always said that now was his home and he didn’t want to dwell on the past. Yugi figured that part of it was because no matter what, Atem was never going to get his life in Egypt back and ergo he felt no need to dwell on it.

Still, Yugi would like to know more. All he knew was that Atem had been a Pharaoh and Atem had liked stars. He assumed Atem must’ve been athletic from how toned he was but had no conclusive proof one way or the other. He did know that Anzu had once complained hiking with Atem sucked and he saw Anzu’s point. Atem seemed to do it more for the exercise rather than the scenic views and Yugi had no idea how to break it to Atem that he did not enjoy any form of working out. Still, sitting next to Atem while gazing at the sunset almost made up for the hike. Almost. He felt exhausted and was fairly certain he’d rather Atem carry them back to camp. He’d completely forgotten the reason he’d brought Atem out here until Atem gasped and pointed out the first star. “That’s the evening star,” Atem said as he pointed to it. “It’s the first star that appears in the night sky!”

Yugi had no way of knowing what that meant but it didn’t matter. The real treat was getting to see the wonder in Atem’s eyes as the stars began to fill in the night sky. Yugi thought the view of the stars was rather pretty but nothing could be as pretty as Atem’s look of excitement. Yugi half listened as Atem pointed to stars and remarked that they were similar to the ones he saw in Egypt before noting that the sky must be different because of where they’re located. “Wouldn’t we all see the same night sky,” Yugi asked, puzzled.

“No,” Atem said as he leaned back, a brilliant grin upon his face. The most amazing detail was Atem’s grey eyes sparkling like gems as his eyes darted across the night sky. “Whenever I went to Punt, they always had a slightly different night sky. Not sure why. I’m sure there’s research into explaining it now but it was just assumed that the Gods had given us different night skies.”

“Why would the Gods do that?”

Atem shrugged. “The Gods were weird,” Atem said simply. “Why do the Gods do anything? It’s not up to me to question their will.”

Yugi frowned at this. The Gods’ will was something that Yugi privately wanted to challenge many times. What sort of Gods allowed someone like Atem to die so young? Why would they have allowed suffering? He’d wondered for the longest time but it seemed Atem also had no answers for him. “I suppose that means wondering why a God would do anything has been a theological question for thousands of years, then.”

“I suppose so,” Atem said with a slight frown as he looked over at Yugi, a hand gently over Yugi’s. “But I suppose I can be grateful that they at least let me have another shot at life and that I would get to spend it with someone as wonderful as you. This was so I could see stars in the night sky again, wasn’t it?”

Nothing ever got past Atem, Yugi thought, well aware he was bright red yet again. “Yeah, it was,” Yugi admitted, looking away from Atem to look up at the night sky. He’d never known it was possible to see part of the galaxy across the night sky until tonight. Nor that the night sky seemed endless in the amount of stars it could hold. He could see how people would believe in divinity and feel so small looking upon this sky. “It... makes me feel a little small,” Yugi said softly. “Like in the end, we don’t matter. It’s easy to believe in things bigger than yourself when you look at how small and insignificant we are.”

The endless abyss of space seemed to pass judgement on them. Who were they to challenge anything when in the end, they were simply so small and tiny? The void could swallow them whole and feel nothing about it. “I suppose it is easy to fell small and meaningless when challenged with something bigger than you,” Atem said softly, wrapping an arm around Yugi and Yugi leaned in. “However... it’s also what inspires us, isn’t it? We see all this and we think how can we be better than those who came before us? We know that we’re small but we continue to insist we can make an impact anyway. It inspires us to greatness.”

“Is that what you believe,” Yugi asked, lightly drawing out stars on Atem’s leg.

“Of course,” Atem said before pulling away just enough to look at Yugi properly. His hand reached to cup Yugi’s cheek. “Besides... I don’t think you’re insignificant. You helped me to find my memories, to challenge a demon that sought to destroy the world and helped me to save it. Without you, aibou, I would still be locked away in that puzzle, losing myself to the darkness. You are the single most important person in my life. And now, you even bring me the stars again. Even now, you’re still doing everything to help me.”

With that, Atem gave Yugi a soft kiss and Yugi decided maybe camping wasn’t so bad after all.


End file.
